Unit 1 Legal Studies Incursion
On Thursday, May 5 Unit 1 Legal Studies students joined a Zoom meeting with County Court, Judge Sarah Leightfield and her Judge’s Associate, Sophie.
Students were engaged in conversations about the career paths both took to become a Judge or a Judge’s Associate. It was valuable information as both had taken very different paths to get to where they were, in fact neither had entered an undergraduate Bachelor of Law straight out of Secondary schooling, so it showed our students there are many ways to get into the field if they are passionate about it.
Judge Leightfield spoke of her work as a solicitor, as well as barristers for both the Prosecution and Defence, before heading off for 3 years as a travelling Country Victoria Magistrate, hearing up to 70 cases a day in various regional towns, before being appointed a County Court Judge in 2020.
Judge Leightfield then when on to answer questions posed by the students. Questions came from areas of the media, sentencing, support for Indigenous offenders, Judge alone trials and careers and pathways.
It was a valuable session spent with her honour and we look forward to the possibility of visiting a court in person later this year.